"Mike Hazard" - by Marx! Unca Jeffy's Toy Box

Before "Best of the West", Marx produced this long-forgotten action hero "Mike Hazard" - secret agent. Again, this was lonnnnnnnnng before these were called "action figures" and they were just plain 'ol cool toys! Mike Hazard was a product of the late '60's secret agent craze and I found days worth of fun out of playing with him. He is the same scale as the "Best of the West" figures I have and he interracted with them often. Time-lines and other boundaries didn't exist in my little world, and sometimes they still don't! I believe this was my big brother Mike's toy actually, but since he moved along those natural biological courses, of out-growing toys for games of sport and other nonsense, I happily stayed arrested in my development and gave "Mike Hazard" a long and varied career.


You see before you a ruggedly handsome man-of-the-world. A vynil face that could make women swoon and evil-doers quiver in their shoes...

...of course, "Mike Hazard" is also an artful mastor-of-disguise. Check the cool plastic wig he keeps at the ready...

...also the "Mission Impossible" rubber mask to hide his well recognized features from those would-be world conquerors and mad scientists!

I also used to use "Silly Putty" to give him moustaches and sideburns and the like. Silly Putty clings to vynil juuuuuuuust fine.

He comes with a sporty driving cap...

...AND a jaunty 1960's fedora!

Though NOT as well armed as "Renegade Sam Cobra", he does come with all manner of artillery of his own. 1, 2, no 3 pistols (one with a shoulder holster), a knife, a dagger AND a blade hidden in a walking stick!

Ubercool!

He also is prepared for carrying around secret formulas and enemy papers of all manner, with an attache case and capet bag. Both of which are equiped with spring loaded explosive devices in case of tampering by the wrong party!

He comes with a pockt recording device with earpiece, a radio (assumedly for two-way communication with headquarters and a 10 pound flashlight for skulking around dark corridors. Probably comes in pretty handy for whacking goons on the noggin.

He comes with a slick flak-jacket that looks like a sporty vest, and what 1960's era spy guy would be complete without a trenchcoat for the full cloak and dagger look that was all the rage in the spring of 1968.

I know what your wondering. "Nutty Mads", "Johnny West" and friends and now "Mike Hazard"? Did you have any toys that weren't made by Marx??? Of course I did and we'll keep digging through "Uncle Jeffy's Toy Box" every Saturday and re-discover them all.

And as for my big brother Mike? You ain't getting "Mike Hazard" back. I'm still busy playing with him.

Talk to you soon.

Renegade Sam Cobra and Chief Cherokee - "Best of the West"!

Another Saturday, another dive into "Unca Jeffy's Toy Box" and checking out the rest of Marx Toys "Best of the West"!

Every hero needs a villain and Johnny West was no exception. In Marx's "...West" world, that spot was filled by "'Renegade' Sam Cobra"!


You can tell he's the bad guy because, not only does he wear all black, but he also sports a nefarious goatee! You see, back in the 1960's before every fat white guy hipster sported those chin whiskers to supposedly hide their double-chin (wow...I'm ragging on myself now!), only the very evil had them. Jack Cassidy was of course the exception that proved the rule.

Sam Cobra also comes with a mighty impressive collection of artillery. Rifle, sawed-off shotgun, six-shooter with a holster which also houses a sheath for a dagger, shoulder holster with pistol and even a belt buckle with concealed derringer. This boy was loaded for bear, but it weren't no bear he was shootin' for!

He also came with a safe for breaking into, bomb, a few sticks of dynamite and his own pair of handcuffs. Either for his hostages or to be used on him if the good guys caught him I presume. Unless he had a bondage fetish, which would go right along with that goatee!

He also came with a velice, a neck-tie, spurs, sporty black hat (standard issue for all bad guys, dontchaknow) annnnnnnnnnnnd some kinda strap. Leads me back to the hand-cuff issue.

I'm proud to say they've all been in "Unca Jeffy's Toy Box" loe these many decades....however, there was a final tradgedy...

Chief Cherokee suffered the same joint damage that Johnny West himself did, but to an even greater extent...

Poor, poor Chief. These are the things that break my heart. I thought I had been being his caretaker and it all fell apart under my nose.

His many accoutraments did survive though. His chief headdress with atttachable extension and extra feathers, his scout headband and feathers, medicine man hat and mask, necklace, vest...

...rifle, spear, bow and quiver full of arrows, hatchet, sheild, belt and knife, pouch,...

...drum and mallet, peace-pipe and something that looks like a maraca, though I'm sure there is an indian name for it and what looks like a branding iron.

That sews up my delving into my "Best of the West" collection. Some real joys and real heart-aches.

There's a visceral pleasure in the touch and smell of these toys from childhood though. I'm really glad I've hung onto them and it was really worth the effort.

Another shining ray of happy, I found the third sack of gold from the chest of Johnny West...

...it was tucked in with Sam Cobra's belongings. Damn renegade!

Talk to you soon.

Captain Maddox - "The Best of the West" - by Marx

Time for another Saturday afternoon dive into Unca Jeffy's Toy Box and part 2 of "Best of the West" collection - by Marx!

This is "Captain Maddox" of the U.S. Calvary. He didn't have a first name, but to me it should be something like "Captain John Maddox" or "Captain Steve Maddox" or "Captain Chet Maddox" or something manly-man like that.


I'm happy to report, that unlike handless and legless Johnny West, Captain Maddox remains unscather in the toy box...with nearly ALL his accessories....bugle, binoculars, binocular case, map case...

...Rifle, sword, pistol, gunbelt...

...3, count 'em, 3 hats (scout's hat, officer's dress hat and garrison cap - presumably so you could spend hours playing you fantasy of Rod Maddox's rise through the ranks), gauntlets and kerchief...

...canteen, strap for something or other and something that's worn like a sash but looks more like a horse blanket.

I know that these are (nearly) all his accessories, because the anal retentitiveness in me had me keep the 11 x 17 equipment maual that came with the toy for the last 30 years as well...

I think part of the reason Captain Reed Maddox stayed so well preserved is because (and here's where you get even MORE insight into my pitiful adolescent years) I got Johnny West about 1968 or so when I was only 5 or 6. The purchase of Captain Maddox could very well have been in the late 70's. When I was well into my teens. When other guys were discovering sports and dumb 'ol girls.

I was at the toy store.

That's OK. Captain Alex Maddox never judged me.

Talk to you soon.

Marx - "Best of the West" - Johnny West!

It's Saturday and time for another rummage through "Unca Jeffy's Toy Box"!

This trip is actually the reason that I started doing these rummage-explorations. After seeing KW's post on his great diverse blog here, I had a penchant for digging for my own collection of Marx Toys "Best of the West". They weren't called "action figures back then...they were just fun toys.

As I dug through my trunks of toys, I recognized the "custom carrying case" shoe box my figures were stored in and my heart jumped...


...take a gander at 'em. Hours, days, weeks of my childhood, preserved as if in amber...

...pay no attention to the guy on the far left. He wasn't intended by the toy makers to go with the others. But he was in my young imagination. His name is "Mike Hazard" I believe, and once belonged to my big brother Mike. We'll get to him in a few weeks.

Here's how OCDed I am. The original brochures which came with the figures...

..."A handy guide to the complete collection! "Best of the West" - by Marx!

The star of the collection Johnny West...and Jane West (the girl toy...ewwwwwwwww)

..."Sheriff Garrett" and "Renegade Sam Cobra" (he's in that thar boox, too!)...

..."General Custer" and "Capt. Tom Maddox" (and he's in the box too!)...

..."Fighting Geronimo", "Chief Cherokee" (also in Unca Jeffy's Toy Box) and "Fighting Eagle"...

..."Covered Wagon and Horse" and "Buckboard and Horse"...

..."Thunderbolt" and "Storm Cloud Pinto"! Note that all figures made of "solid poly plastic", vinyl faces and hands and best of all, wagons and animals of "high impact styrene"! A petrolium based wet dream!...

..."Comanche Horse" and "Buckskin Horse"...

..."Pancho Horse", "Jay West" and "Jamie West"...

..."Janice West", "Josie West" and "Princess Wild Flower"...

...ahhhhhhh if I could only have them all. Even the girl toys would be neat to have.

As I said, my heart jumped when the memories flooded back to me. Imagine my horror when I found...

I knew Johnny's right hand was missing (thank my nephew Skip when we were kids for that...grrrrrrr), but apparently through the years of storage, the plastic clip on Johnny's hip decompsed and let go of the high tension spring that held the hips in place.

Sigh!

This is what a close-up autopsy would show...

"Oh, the pain! Someone shoot me NOW!!!", said Johnny.

..."But I must go on. I've fought for too many years to give up at something like this.", resolved the tough rancher. "Who needs a right hand and two legs? Not me!"

And that's what makes Johnny West cool. Hell, they named a whole direction after him!

A stolid faced man, ready to meet new challenges!

I haven't unpacked the whole shoe box yet, I'm hoping to find more accessories, but for now here's what Johnny still has in his arsenal!

His hat, kerchief, vest and chaps are all here. Though the soft plastic snaps that held the kerchief and chaps in place are long worn out from use...

...I'm afraid to remove his spurs for that very reason.

...Got a frying pan, coffee pot, coffee mug and canteen for nourishment...

...and his gun belt, knife and rifle are here. I'll be digging for his gun, though the soft plastic buckle of his belt is worn. :(

He's got his money box with 2 of the 3 bags of gold still here (I'm digging) and a branding iron...

Impressively enough, he even has his own brand. "W" for West!

um...or it's probably "M" for Marx.

Keep playing, cowpokes. Like Woody told us in "Toy Story 2", a toy's not happy in a box. A toy needs to be played with.

Talk to you soon.